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A pore-forming protein, perforin, from a non-mammalian organism, Japanese flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus

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Abstract

A perforin cDNA of Japanese flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus, was cloned from a cDNA library of kidney stimulated with ConA/PMA. The full-length cDNA is 2,157 bp, which encodes 587 amino acids. The Japanese flounder perforin gene consists of five exons and four introns, with a length of approximately 3 kb. The amino acid sequence of the Japanese flounder perforin is 36% identical to that of rat perforin and 37% identical to amino acid sequences of mouse and human perforin. The Japanese flounder perforin also showed low homology to human and mouse complement components (C6, C7, C8 and C9), ranging from 19% to 24%. However, the membrane attack complex/perforin domain is conserved. A phylogenetic analysis placed the Japanese flounder perforin in the same cluster with other known mammalian perforins. RT-PCR analysis revealed that the perforin gene was expressed in the peripheral blood leukocytes, head kidney, trunk kidney, spleen, heart, gill and intestine of healthy fish. Recombinant perforin produced in insect cells using the baculovirus expression system showed calcium-dependent hemolytic activity.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Sciences, and Technology of Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Genome Science, Graduate School of Marine Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Konan 4-5-7, Minato, 108-8477, Tokyo, Japan

    Jee Youn Hwang, Tsuyoshi Ohira, Ikuo Hirono & Takashi Aoki

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  1. Jee Youn Hwang
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  2. Tsuyoshi Ohira
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  3. Ikuo Hirono
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  4. Takashi Aoki
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Correspondence to Takashi Aoki.

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Hwang, J.Y., Ohira, T., Hirono, I. et al. A pore-forming protein, perforin, from a non-mammalian organism, Japanese flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus. Immunogenetics 56, 360–367 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-004-0688-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-004-0688-8

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